Chase contenders dominated the top 15 all day during the Price Chopper 400 at the Kansas Speedway. When it was all over it was Chase contender Gregg Biffle who ended up taking the hardware home with a commanding seven second win over a resurgent Jimmie Johnson. Chase participants made up the top finishing positions and Denny Hamlin finished twelfth.
The race had only five cautions, twenty lead changes amongst twelve different drivers. Tony Stewart led the most laps with 76 as Biffle led 60. “It’s a big win for us. The car ran great today and it just kept getting better and better all day,” Biffle said in victory lane. “We were kind of down in the dumps after Dover and we’re going to do the best we can.”
“It sounds awesome,” is what Jimmie Johnson said after he found out that he was the points leader after his second place finish and Hamlin’s top 15 finish. Hamlin dropped to second only 8 points back, Kevin Harvick is in third 30 points back with Carl Edwards and Jeff Gordon within 53 points of the leader.
Kasey Kahne, the pole sitter led the race early until Jeff Gordon took over. Gordon led until David Reutimann was spun out by Kyle Busch after apparently getting loose. On lap 154 Reutimann ran into Kyle Busch putting him hard into the wall and wrecking himself in the process. Busch protested over the radio that NASCAR needed to do something because his car “is destroyed” and needed repairs to complete the race. Reutimann said, “We just got run over early and it ruined our day. It just did not work for us. No reason, its get a little old. It just didn’t work out”
Busch, after the race was asked he wanted NASCAR to do and he said, “Nothing, I thought about it and I don’t want them to do anything. It’s unfortunate to have it happen; the guy was loose and I got into him. He could have wrecked me anyone of the first twenty six races but not today.” Busch’s crew chief decided that it would be better for Busch to stay on the track and try to tough it out with a tore up rear end rather than losing laps in the garage. Busch finished in 21st , the first car one lap down. Reutimann finished in 35th ; 11 laps off the pace.
Tony Stewart dominated the middle section of the race which saw long green flag runs and Stewart extending his lead. But when Biffle finally made it by Stewart he never looked back.
